<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Champions<\/p>\n\n\n\n
World of Stardom Champion: Kagetsu<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wonder of Stardom Champion: Momo Watanabe<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Goddess of Stardom Champions: Momo Watanabe and Utami\nHayashishita<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Artist of Stardom Champions: Mayu Iwatani, Saki Kashima, and\nTam Nakano<\/p>\n\n\n\n
High Speed Champion: Mari Apache<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SWA Undisputed World Women\u2019s Championship: Viper<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Future of Stardom Champion: Starlight Kid<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beginners Guide<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019ve been following Kairi Sane and Io Shirai in the Mae Young Classics and NXT you\u2019ve probably heard the name Stardom in reference to their careers in Japan. Stardom was founded in 2011 by Rossy Ogawa, Nanae Takahashi, and Fuka, and remains one of the larger women\u2019s promotions in Japan. The roster is currently split up into four factions: Queen\u2019s Quest (who began life as a heel faction but became tweeners because people couldn\u2019t boo Io Shirai), Oedo Tai (who are cool heels), Stars (who are faces and the most idol-y faction), and Jungle Assault Nation (aka JAN, who are faces but split off from Stars earlier this year). Queen\u2019s Quest was led by Io Shirai before she left Stardom, and is now run by her prot\u00e9g\u00e9 AZM; Oedo Tai is led by Kagetsu; Stars by Mayu Iwatani; and JAN by Jungle Kyona. The top belt in Stardom is the World of Stardom title, commonly referred to as the red belt, followed by the Wonder of Stardom title, referred to as the white belt. The Goddess of Stardom tag titles and Artist of Stardom trios titles are also regularly defended at bigger shows. The High Speed title and the SWA title haven\u2019t made much of an appearance this year, but the Future of Stardom title is defended quite regularly by wrestlers who are either under the age of twenty or with less than two years\u2019 experience. There are two major tournaments held annually \u2013 the Cinderella Tournament, which is a knock-out tournament that takes place on one day in April, and the 5 Star Grand Prix, which is a round-robin, two block tournament that takes place in late summer. You can watch Stardom by signing up to their streaming site at http:\/\/www.stardom-world.com<\/a> for less than \u00a310 a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Year in Review<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2018 ended up being quite the year for Stardom, with some major upheaval and new names in the main event scene.\u00a0 2017 closed with one of Stardom\u2019s veterans Yoko Bito retiring, the World of Stardom title belt in the hands of Toni Storm who, for various reasons, wasn\u2019t in Japan that much, and question marks surrounding the future of their Ace Io Shirai.\u00a0In March of 2018 another veteran retired in Hiromi Mimura, the head trainer of Stardom Fuka retired to start a family, and longtime stalwart Kris Wolf departed after issues surrounding her visa.\u00a0 Clarity emerged regarding Io Shirai\u2019s future around June, when she announced that she would be leaving Stardom and following Kairi Sane to WWE.\u00a0 Toni Storm also dropped the World of Stardom belt to Kagetsu in June, and joined the summer exodus to WWE.\u00a0 Despite these apparent setbacks, Stardom is going into 2019 riding a wave of optimism regarding the future.\u00a0 This is largely down to the elevation of new talent into the vacuum left by Io, Kairi, and to some extent Toni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leading the list of Stardom wrestlers that have had a strong\n2018 is the current Wonder of Stardom and Goddess of Stardom champion, Momo\nWatanabe. Momo is a member of Io\u2019s\nformer faction Queen\u2019s Quest, and had previously held the trios title in\n2017. However, she burst into the\nspotlight in May when she defeated Io to win the Wonder of Stardom title, and she\nhas been positioned as the new Ace of Stardom following her mentor\nleaving. Momo has put on absolutely fantastic\nmatches throughout the year, and is thoroughly deserving of her place as a\nfuture pillar of the company. Along with\nwinning the Wonder of Stardom title, she also added a victory in the Cinderella\nTournament and the Tag League, and won the tag team titles in November. It\u2019s hard to think of any woman who\u2019s had as\nstrong a year, either in kayfabe or in match quality, as Momo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n